UCLA women’s volleyball coach Andy Banachowski said there isn’t any deep mystery as to why his Bruins dropped four of six matches during an early three-week stretch of the season.

“We just weren’t very good at that time of the year,” he said Thursday, before joining his team for a practice for the Bruins’ NCAA Tournament first-round match against Long Beach State tonight at 8 in Pauley Pavilion.

It took enduring that stretch – which included a sweep by the 49ers on Sept. 19 in Cal State Fullerton’s Titan Gym – for his players to understand that point, though.

“We thought we were pretty good,” said Banachowski, in his 43rd season as the program’s head coach.

“We had a big win against Nebraska the week before, and came into Fullerton riding high. We probably thought we were going to cruise through that weekend.

“The (five-set) loss to Fullerton was a shock to our confidence level. And then we had to play two matches on Saturday. And Long Beach was clearly the better team that day.”

Six days later, the Bruins opened Pacific 10 Conference play with a three-set loss at Arizona State – which is one of only two squads (along with Oregon State) from the powerhouse Pac-10 not in the tournament’s 64-team field.

“I think we were still reeling from that loss (to the 49ers),” Banachowski added.

“In volleyball, if you don’t bring your best effort every night, you’re going to get knocked off.”

Obviously, the Bruins (23-8 and seeded No. 8) did, as they won 12 of their final 15 conference matches – losing twice to No. 6 Washington and in Eugene to 14th seed Oregon – to finish tied for second with the Huskies behind champion Stanford.

“We were able to regain our confidence and solidify what we wanted to do, offensively and defensively,” he said. “We reestablished who we are.”

LBSU Coach Brian Gimmillaro, whose Big West Conference champion 49ers (22-8) are making the program’s 23rd consecutive tournament appearance, said the Bruins aren’t doing anything schematically different than when the teams met in September.

“In reality, they haven’t changed anything,” he said. “They are so deep in their rotation that they have some interchangeable parts. They both start and substitute very good players. We have a real task at hand.”

Five 49ers earned all-conference recognition, including setter Ashley Lee, middle blocker Naomi Washington and outside hitter Caitlin Ledoux – each a Big West Player of the Week choice over the final three weeks of the regular season.

All-session passes (good for admission both nights in Pauley) will be on sale at the UCLA ticket office for $18 (adults) and $10 (students and children). Single-evening tickets are $10 for adults and $6 for students and children.